Historic water use in the Dakota aquifer

In his reconnaissance of the Great Plains, Darton
(1905, 1906) found widespread use of the Dakota for drinking
water, steam locomotives, and non-irrigated agriculture. Flowing
wells were very common in the Arkansas River valley of
southeastern Colorado, in much of South Dakota, and parts of
southeastern North Dakota and northeastern Nebraska in the Missouri
River valley at that time. The artesian pressure within the aquifer
in these areas was sufficient that many of the wells produced an
adequate supply of fresh water without the use of a pump.

In the Arkansas River valley of southeastern Colorado, the depths of
these flowing artesian wells ranged from more than 1,000 ft at Pueblo and
Fowler, Colorado, to 300 ft at Coolidge, Kansas. Darton found considerable
artesian pressure in many of the wells he visited. He estimated that in
some cases if the well casing were extended up into the air, the water
levels would rise from a few feet up to 150 ft above land surface. Flow
rates ranged from less than one up to more than 100 gallons per minute.

Figure 1 is a photograph of one of the flowing artesian wells visited
by Darton in the early 1900s. The water levels in the first flowing
artesian Dakota wells at Coolidge, Kansas, in 1885 were estimated
to be almost 20 ft above land surface. In the early 1900s local well
owners could expect flows from wells tapping the Dakota aquifer to
range from 25 to 75 gallons per minute in the Arkansas River valley
between Coolidge and Syracuse. Later in the 1930s and early 1940s,
the flow rates from these wells decreased to 30 gallons per minute
or less in this same stretch of the valley.

Many of the wells that Darton inventoried in the Arkansas River
valley did not flow naturally to the surface. Water levels were
generally 75 ft or less below land surface eastward of Lamar,
Colorado. Darton reported that some of the artesian pressure had
been lost due to pumping and unregulated, year-round discharge from
the flowing artesian wells. If a well did not flow naturally under
artesian pressure, steam- or wind-power was needed to bring water
to the surface. Well yields were reported to range from 25 to 80
gallons per minute. Now, the flowing artesian wells that once were
commonplace in the Arkansas River valley are rare where historic
development was heaviest.

On the basis of a handful well-drilling reports from across western
and central Kansas, Haworth (1913) outlined an
area where the Dakota is shallow and could be practically used for
water supply. This area included most of the Arkansas River
drainage above Great Bend, Kansas and a portion of the Cimarron
River basin. Haworth also observed freshwater springs emanating
from the hillsides in central Kansas. He reported that they were fed
locally by the Dakota aquifer where it is at the surface, but did not
report on their use by the local population for water supply.

However, the attention of users has been largely focused on the
shallower and more prolific sources of water in the High Plains
aquifer and in the river valleys of Kansas. In the last few decades,
the shallower sources of water have been under intense development
primarily from irrigated agriculture. As a result, water levels in
these shallow aquifer systems have declined significantly. In
several instances these sources now are insufficient to meet
existing demand in local areas. During this period, the competition
for water stimulated interest in tapping deeper sources in the
Dakota aquifer in western Kansas to supplement yields from the
dwindling shallower sources.

In the late 1970s, a regional study of the Dakota aquifer by the
Kansas Geological Survey estimated that 8095 million acre-ft of
water with a total dissolved solids concentration of less than 3,000
mg/L could potentially be withdrawn from the Dakota. However, it
was recognized that development of water resources for irrigation
of crops could be limited due to the complexity of the Dakota.

In southwestern Kansas, the institution of new management policies
for the High Plains aquifer sparked interest in the Dakota as a
source of water for irrigating crops. New management policies and
regulations were developed and instituted by Southwest
Groundwater Management District #3 that applied to both the High
Plains and the Dakota aquifers. These policies and regulations were
based on a limited quantitative understanding of the hydrologic
interactions between the Dakota and the overlying High Plains
aquifer in the District. The new regulations featured a graduated
well spacing based on the yearly withdrawal of ground water
from the well to be installed.

In northcentral Kansas at about this time, limited use of the Dakota
aquifer for irrigating crops in southwestern Washington and
adjacent Cloud and Republic counties also began and has continued to
the present. The only guidelines applied to this development
stipulated a well spacing of one mile between these high-yield
wells.